


Gym Rats

by Gigi_Sinclair



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-09
Updated: 2016-12-09
Packaged: 2018-09-07 11:58:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8799991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gigi_Sinclair/pseuds/Gigi_Sinclair
Summary: Hux decides his brother Techie needs to get fit. The personal trainer, Matt, thinks he already is.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for shakespearean-ginger, who requested a fic to go with starkickback's [amazing Matt/Techie](http://starkickback.tumblr.com/post/153719573169/gym-au-this-one-spawned-out-of-nspamc) drawing. (There's also a sequel drawing, [ here](http://starkickback.tumblr.com/post/153979344849/gym-au-continued-continuing-from-the) which I like to think takes place post-fic.)

“I'm, um, I'm just really not sure this is the best idea,” Techie says, yet again, as they approach the gym. He tries to stop, right there in the middle of the pavement, but Hux takes him by the arm and propels him forward. 

“You need to get fit, Techie.”

“Why?”

“Because you do. You can't spend your life sitting in front of a computer screen with a bag of Doritos.” 

“Um, see, actually, I think I can...”

“You'll die of a heart attack before you're forty.” 

“I see the doctor, Armie. She says I'm fine. Well, apart from the, you know.” He blinks his bloodshot eyes. 

Hux sighs. It's moderating all those sub-reddits or whatever the hell they're called that's made Techie like this. He was much more agreeable before he got into all that shit. “What about safety, then? Don't you want to be able to protect yourself?”

“From who?”

“Criminals.”

“We live in a very safe city.”

“Bullies, then.”

“Armie, um, I appreciate the thought, but I'm twenty-eight. It's not like I get beaten up for my lunch money every day anymore...”

“Just try it, all right?” Hux's tone strays dangerously close to wheedling. Hux never wheedles. “I've already paid for the first session. The personal trainer's supposed to be amazing. You know Leslie, in 204?” Techie nods. The downstairs neighbour watches their cat when he and Hux go on their infrequent holidays. “Six weeks with this guy, and apparently now she can eat all the muffins she wants. I'm telling you, Techie, it will be great.” 

Techie sighs, but he stops complaining. He trails along after Hux, who marches with confidence through the door of First Order Fitness.

Kylo Ren isn't there. Not that Hux cares, of course. It's not like he looked for Ren the second he stepped inside or anything. And if he did, it's only because Ren is such a thorn in Hux's side. He's the gym's assistant manager, but he seems to spend most of his time lounging around in a stupidly tight black tank top, flexing his ridiculous muscles in the mirror and asking Hux—and asking and asking and asking him—when he's going to come to one of Ren's Crossfit sessions. 

“Never,” Hux sniffs, not looking up from the treadmill's heartrate monitor. 

“Suit yourself. You know where I am if you need me,” Ren always replies with a wink, then saunters away, leaving Hux blushing with rage and with absolutely no choice but to stare at the man's sculpted, retreating backside. 

Instead of Ren, Hux is met by another, equally tall, man. This one is blond, with glasses and a blue First Order Fitness T-shirt. “I'm Matt,” he says, with more intensity than the statement really warrants. “You're here for a session.” 

“Actually, the session is for my brother.” Hux looks back, to where Techie is still outside. Techie attempts to push open the front door, which is clearly marked pull, and frowns in confusion when it resists. Catching his eye through the glass, Hux makes a pulling motion. Techie nods and succeeds in opening the door, coming to stand beside Hux. “This is Techie,” Hux says, turning back to Matt. 

Matt's face is a strange shade of pink. “Are you all right?” Hux asks. The last thing he needs is for the personal trainer to collapse before Techie even starts a session. He'll never set foot in a gym again. 

“Matt,” Matt replies, as if that's an answer. He extends a hand in Techie's direction. 

Techie takes it, swallowing audibly. “I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm...” 

Discreetly, Hux elbows Techie in the side. As usual, it does the trick. Techie leaps back on track. “I'm Techie,” he says. Rather than shake hands and release, he and Matt stand without moving, their hands clasped and their eyes locked. _Oh, Christ_ , Hux thinks. And then, as realization dawns, _oh, fuck._

“How about you go change, Techie,” Matt says. His voice seems to have dropped at least half an octave. “And get on your back? I mean, get on the mats? I'll meet you there. In a minute. On the mats. Standing up. Of course.” 

“Okay,” Techie says, still not letting go of Matt's hand. Matt does nothing to dislodge him. 

Hux has to intervene. “Right,” he says briskly, grabbing Techie's arm. “We'll do that.” Hux doesn't wait for a reply. As he drags Techie toward the changing room, he makes the mistake of glancing back. Matt shakes his head, as if attempting to wake himself from reverie, and Hux scowls. 

“Maybe this is a bad idea after all.”

“What?” Techie, who normally has to be coaxed to change his clothes and would happily do everything including sleep in his baggy grey sweater if Hux let him, tears it off as soon as they get into the changing room. He grabs a yellow T-shirt from his gym bag--actually a plastic carrier bag, since he claimed to have nothing else--and pulls it on so quickly, he gets his arms caught. “You were right, Armie. The trainer seems great.”

“Yes. Well, I've only paid for one forty-minute session. So we can re-evaluate the situation after that.” How much, Hux reasons, can go wrong in forty minutes? 

The answer, it seems, is plenty. Usually, Hux sticks to the treadmills and leaves the stationary bicycles for the Lululemon-wearing women of the gym, the ones with infants sleeping in car seats on the floor beside them. But the treadmills don't afford a view of the mats. So today, Hux gets on a bike, ignoring the in-depth discussion the two women beside him are having about little Aidan's bowel movements, and watches the world fall apart. 

It begins with relative innocence. Hux can't hear what they're saying, but Matt starts out, like any personal trainer, by talking with Techie. They sit on the mats, more closely together than strictly necessary, but Hux can overlook that. Techie fidgets as he talks, pushing his hair behind his ears, twisting it into a bun, then letting it fall, only to begin the cycle again a moment later. Matt watches everything he does with rapt attention. He says something that makes Techie smile, and Matt smiles in turn, an enthusiastic grin spreading across his face. 

Things go downhill from there. Matt demonstrates a push-up, which ends up with him doing forty in a row—Hux counts—while Techie looks on, biting his lip. Matt sits on Techie's feet while Techie attempts a sit-up. When he finally succeeds, the two of them sit there, staring at one another with their faces scant inches apart, until a loud clang from the direction of the free weights seems to snap them out of it. Matt takes Techie over to the chin-up bar. He puts his hands on Techie's waist, to boost him up, and leaves them there. Techie does one weak chin-up, then seems to ask to be put down. Matt complies, but he doesn't take his hands off Techie. Techie turns in Matt's grasp, his own hands hovering as if they long to touch Matt in return.

Hux can't watch any more. He leaps off the bike, leaving the wheels spinning, and stalks over to give this Matt character a piece of his mind. Just what in God's name does he think he's doing, abusing his position to take advantage of innocents? Hux will have his job for this. He'll have his entire career. Matt will never train anyone, personally or otherwise, ever again...

“Hey, Hux. Thought any more about joining Crossfit?” Kylo Ren materializes front of him, blocking his path and his view of Matt and Techie. 

“No. Leave me alone.”

Ren doesn't move. “You don't usually use the bikes. Want me to give you a hand with anything?” 

“I'm just...” Matt and Techie move away. Hux cranes his neck, but Ren is an effective blockade. Hux can't see anything but acres of skin, drawn taut over rippling muscles, accentuated here and there by a scar or a tattoo. 

“You know, Hux, you might be intimidated by Crossfit because you think it's for guys like me, but the whole point is that anyone can do it. And if you wanted extra help, I'm always available for one-on-one support...”

“Would you get out of my way?” It's louder than Hux intended. Loud enough that the women on the bikes, an old man with a medicine ball and a teenage girl on a rowing machine turn to stare, but Hux ignores them. He pushes past Ren, who lets him go—Hux isn't deluded enough to think he could move him if Ren actually resisted—and scans the gym desperately. A well-muscled blonde woman in a halter top, kickboxing instructor Phasma, is behind the desk. He's about to rush over and ask if she's seen his brother, when he hears a laugh. He whirls around to see Techie bending over the water fountain, his hair gathered in one hand and Matt's hand on his back. 

“What the fuck is going on here?” Hux hisses, rushing up behind them. He would prefer to scream, but he's already made a spectacle of himself. 

Matt turns. “I'm sorry?” 

“Ha. I'm sure you're not.” 

Techie stands, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Armie? What's, um, what's wrong?”

“I'm putting an end to this right now. Techie, get changed. We're going home. And you, Matt or whatever your name is...”

“No.” Techie interrupts. 

“I'm going to report you to whatever governing body you subscribe to...” Hux glances over. “What?”

Techie looks at him. “I said, um, no. You're the one who wanted me to come here, and now you're, you're, you're...freaking out? About what?” 

“Matt knows very well what.” 

“I don't,” Matt has the gall to lie. 

“Everything all right here?” Ren appears. For once, Hux isn't completely infuriated by it.

“He's flirting with my brother,” Hux accuses. 

“What?” Matt's voice is strangled. “Mr. Ren, sir, I assure you, I'm being totally professional. You know I would never do anything to hurt First Order Fitness, I'm completely dedicated to the cause.” Matt's face turns bright red. 

A matching flush appears on Techie's, which doesn't exactly give him a lot of credibility when he says, “Armie, you're crazy. I thought you wanted me to train. Matt's training me...”

“To do what, exactly?” 

“Okay.” Ren holds up his hands. “Let's just all take a breath and figure this out. You.” Ren looks at Techie. “You got a boyfriend? Husband? Girlfriend? Wife?” 

“N-no.” 

“And I know Matt's single, right?” He glances at Matt, who nods. He turns back to Techie. “You like him?”

Techie blinks like his head is about to explode. “I...I...I...”

“It's okay if you do. He's pretty hot, if I do say so. Some people even say we kind of look alike, though I don't know about that. And do you like him, Matt?” 

“Sir, Mr. Ren, sir...”

“He's cute,” Ren says, looking at Techie approvingly. Hux's fist clenches, ready to punch Ren in his stupid handsome face. “Nobody's going to pressure anyone into anything, right? We're all respectful adults. So now that's all cleared up, I pronounce you allowed to flirt.” Ren smirks, like this is all some big joke. That's enough to push Hux over the edge. 

“Fine,” he snaps. “Do whatever the fuck you want. I'm leaving.” He stalks off toward the changing room, ignoring the sting in his eyes. 

He gets as far as untying one shoe before Ren arrives. “Get away from me,” Hux says. 

Ren ignores him.“Listen, I'll put the fear of God in him if you want,” he says, as he comes over beside Hux. “But Matt's a stand-up guy. He'll look after your brother.”

“That's my job.” And there it is, the words he's never spoken out loud but has always felt, ever since Techie was born. 

Their parents weren't married. At the time, Hux didn't know enough to worry about that, but later, he wondered whether his mother would have found it more difficult to leave if they had been. He doesn't know if he wants the answer to that. She went, in any case, to pursue her pastry chef dreams in Paris, leaving Hux and Techie—Tremayne, although no one has called him that since he was six years old, and Hux wishes he could erase his own hated first name so effectively—with their father and his wife. 

They weren't cruel. They fed them and clothed them and made sure they got into the best private schools, but they weren't interested in them. It was Hux who first noticed Techie's programming skills, Hux who dealt with Techie's bullies, Hux who learned to drive expressly so Techie could get to better computer shops and not have to bring home his purchases on the bus. When Hux was eighteen, he and Techie moved into their own apartment. They'd been on their own ever since. If Hux was honest, they'd been on their own their whole lives. 

He and Techie had talked about relationships, of course, obliquely. Hux had brought home occasional boyfriends, although they never lasted long. He knew Techie liked men, too, but he liked computers more. So much more that Hux had never really considered this would ever actually happen. He'd been a fool. 

“You could look after me,” Ren's voice breaks in. 

“What?” Hux turns to glare at Ren. He's looking back, grinning. 

“I need a lot of looking after. It might be hard to believe, but not all of these scars come from my excellent life choices. And I have some really unfortunate tattoos under here.” He plucks at his tank top. “Want to see?” 

Hux scowls, to keep himself from laughing. “Fuck off.” 

Ren shrugs. “Okay. Whatever, man. Just so you know, the offer's there.” 

He turns to go. As Ren reaches the changing room door, Hux calls out, despite himself, “What time's your Crossfit class?” 

“Six a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, eight p.m. Thursdays.” Ren doesn't turn around, but he doesn't have to. Hux can hear the smile in his voice. 

“I'm not promising anything,” Hux warns.

“I wouldn't expect you to,” Ren replies. Then, he's gone. 

Hux can't bear to go back out into the gym. He dresses, instead, pulling on his jacket just as Techie comes in. He hesitates in the doorway, as if he's afraid Hux is going to attack him. When Hux doesn't, Techie says, “Matt and I are going to the movies tonight.” His voice is strong. Only someone who knows him well, someone like Hux, would notice him twisting the hem of his T-shirt tightly in his fingers. 

“Good.” 

Techie blinks and relaxes his grip on his shirt. “Really?” 

“Yes. It's great.” Hux grits his teeth. “Don't fuck him on the first date.”

“Armie!” 

“And if you do,” Hux adds, because he's not stupid anymore, “use condoms.” 

Once again, Techie flushes. Matt's a “stand up guy”, Hux reminds himself. He's never seen Ren as any kind of arbiter of truth before, but Hux trusts him about that. “I...I...I...” Techie stammers.

Hux puts him out of his misery. “I love you,” he says. He doesn't say it enough. 

Techie nods. Hux is about to suggest they go for a cup of tea when Techie lunges forward and hugs him, tightly. “I love you too,” he mutters, into Hux's ear. “I always will.” 

“Of course.” Awkwardness courses through him and Hux is suddenly terribly afraid he's blushing himself. “Come on, hurry up. I'll wait outside.” 

Back in the gym, Phasma has gone. In her place, Matt stands at the front desk. Hux fixes him with a stare that would bring—that has brought—powerful men to their knees. Matt looks back, unflinching, only turning away when an elderly woman at the desk clears her throat and says, “Excuse me?” three times. 

_Good_ , Hux thinks, satisfied. He leans against the wall pulls out his phone to look up just what the hell Crossfit entails.


End file.
